Rewe Group is one of Europe’s leading retail and tourism groups operating in 21 countries. They have a large presence in Germany operating around 6000 stores including the Rewe and Penny supermarket chains, nahkauf convenience store franchises, the bakery chain Glocken-Bäckerei and the butcher Wilhelm Brandenburg. Internationally they have a further 3500 stores including discounter Penny, supermarket Billa and multiple convenience store chains.

The group strives to raise the awareness levels of children and adults about more sustainable consumption and more balanced nutrition and integrates their customers into its involvement in biodiversity and environmental protection. To do this, they conduct campaigns in their stores such as participatory events, informative action weeks and fundraising drives on selected products. They have a number of initiatives which help to reduce their impact on the environment and encourage customers to have a more sustainable diet. These include:

Rewe have added the ‘PRO PLANET’ sustainability label to its products which takes into account the social, environmental and animal welfare aspects to help customers make informed choices about the products they are purchasing.
Penny was the first retailer in Germany to develop an own brand vegan range across all of its product categories with its Food for Future range. The range includes plant-based burgers, rice nuggets and egg and cheese substitutes and is also climate neutral.

In September 2020 Penny teamed up with the University of Augsburg to calculate the ‘true prices’ for eight conventional and organically produced private-label products (apples, bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, mozzarella, Gouda, milk, and mixed meat). They factored in the impact of nitrogen, greenhouse gases, energy, and land-use change from each product’s supply chain and found that the retail price would need to increase by an average of 62% for conventional products and 35% for organic products if the impacts of all the factors were considered in the price. Taking dietary habits into account as well resulted in an increase of 52% for conventional and 32% for organic products. Both prices were shown on the products to demonstrate the real cost of consuming that product, although customers only paid the retail cost.
At the same time as its ‘True Prices’ project, Penny opened its first interactive sustainability market “PENNY Grüner Weg” in the Spandau area of Berlin. This store contains 20 stations to make the company’s most important sustainability issues more visible and tangible. It answers questions such as ‘Which products will still be on the shelf if there were no more bees and other pollinating insects?’ and also offers products such as vegetables which are usually rejected as being too big, small or wonky, and items with less packaging.
In July 2021 Rewe Germany introduced the ‘Better Half’ brand containing classic meat items which replace 50% of the meat content with vegetables. The range has launched in 1800 stores with two options, minced beef and sausages, with plans to add more sausage products following the launch. The vegetables used in the products include peppers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, pea flour, herbs, and natural spices, but no flavour enhancers. As well as offering an option to consumers who wish to reduce their meat consumption, a further benefit of the hybrid mince is that it contains significantly less fat and calories than classic minced beef.

Rewe Germany received the ‘Most Vegan-Friendly Supermarket 2021’ award from Peta due to its wide range of plant-based products on offer, and Penny received the ‘Best Own Brand’ award for its Food for Future range.